Chapter 320
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Chapter 320: A Breakthrough in Internal Strength! (2)
With a thought, memories from the dream world resurfaced for Qiao Mu.
He saw the swordsman "Old Hu" stepping out, his hand on the sheath of his sword, the image on his hand blurring, followed by a series of ten flashing sword lights.
With just one slash, Qiao Mu and the others were covered in blood, but the deep-seated Li fire in their bodies was extinguished.
"Indeed," Qiao Mu nodded knowingly, lost in thought.
With his current perspective, Qiao Mu realized a certain issue when he looked back on his encounter with the Martial Saint and Earth Sword Immortal.
Both the Martial Saint and the Earth Sword Immortal had internal strength that was fundamentally different from Qiao Mu’s.
This kind of transformed "superb internal strength" had at least two characteristics:
It wasn’t afraid of the Li Fire created by immortal techniques, and could even suppress the Li fire; the outward force could travel a considerable distance, far exceeding the ten-meter attenuation rule.
Thinking about this, Qiao Mu suddenly became aware of a problem.
"The stone sword manifested by the Earth Sword Immortal is probably an exceptional divine weapon for martial artists, it may even rival the Human Emperor Sword in the hands of Founding Emperor Yan!"
When he wielded the Flower and Willow Sword, and joined forces with the Earth Sword Immortal against the Immortal Qing Zhuo, the abundant internal strength accumulated by Qiao Mu could be transformed into the Earth Sword Immortal’s "superb internal strength".
As long as Qiao Mu connects with Earth Sword Immortal’s intentions, uses the same "Heavenly Slashing Swordsmanship", and follows Earth Sword Immortal’s guidance, he can unleash a powerful attack by using a lot of inner power, creating a bright sword light!
Thinking about this, Qiao Mu felt a bit envious.
With his current martial arts skills and experience…
If he could hold the Flower and Willow Sword again, even without Earth Sword Immortal’s teaching, with a little practice, he should be able to understand the essence of "superb inner power" and seek a breakthrough in that direction.
"Earth Sword Immortal is probably still with Immortal Qing Zhuo in Zhong Province. I wonder if he is still alive?"
"He had already cultivated this ‘superb inner power’, why didn’t he give me some guidance back then? Oh well, it would be strange if he could actually teach me."
Known as the "God of Learning" in martial arts, Earth Sword Immortal achieved great success based on intuition, but expecting him to teach others was a bit unrealistic.
After all, even his own brother Lu Yanbei, didn’t reach the superb rank or master the so-called "superb inner power".
"How should one cultivate inner power to transform it into ‘superb inner power’ like Earth Sword Immortal or Martial Saint?"
This is a big problem in front of Qiao Mu.
If he can overcome it…
With the internal strength he has accumulated for 725 years, he can surely make a breakthrough and transform like a dragon.
He has a long time, a total of 400 years, to solve this problem.
With a thought.
Qiao Mu returned to the library in the deserted city, surrounded by various books.
There are martial arts manuals, as well as medical, herbal, and even Taoist and Confucian classics.
How to break through? How to deduce martial arts, how to deduce the way of martial arts?
The answer to this question is like Qiao Mu deducing the "Human Path Sutra" before and Hai Wuya deducing the "Xumi Mountain King Sutra" in the heavenly prison.
Read more books to learn new things.
To create a martial art, you don’t need to read books, you need martial arts experience.
To understand martial arts, you need to know not only the facts but also the reasons behind them. Understanding the essence of internal strength and seeking the essence of "superb internal strength", Qiao Mu thinks that perhaps it can be explored in books.
…………..
Four hundred years in a long and boring dream.
Qiao Mu doesn’t spend all his time reading books.
He practices martial arts from time to time and constantly recalls memories of encounters with Earth Sword Immortal and Martial Saint, trying to grasp the essence of "superb internal strength" from those memories.
During this long process.
His other martial arts skills also make breakthroughs. He has perfected the "Birds Adoring the Phoenix Spear" from Spear Saint and at the same time, he is continuously improving the "Heavenly Dragon Eight Steps" from the Eight-armed Heavenly Dragon.
He took three steps, four steps, five steps towards the sky…
After three hundred years of practice, he mastered this light skill and was able to take eight steps towards the sky.
Qiao Mu’s Human Path Sutra also reached the ninth level when he was 1020 years old.
At the ninth level of the Human Path Sutra, his energy and blood surged again, and Qiao Mu felt his physical body advancing further.
The information on energy and blood rose from 92% to 99%.
At over a thousand years old, Qiao Mu seemed to have rejuvenated, with almost no damage to his energy and blood. His face was smooth, radiant, and nearly identical to that of a young man in his twenties.
However, Qiao Mu wasn’t too concerned about this, even though his energy and blood remained at 99% and couldn’t reach 100%. He didn’t have the energy to focus on it.
During this meditation in his dream, his attention was solely on transforming his internal strength.
He already had a direction in mind.
"A martial artist’s inner strength doesn’t come from nothing, it is born from vigorous energy and blood."
Qiao Mu, who is 10 years old, lifted his head from the pile of books and muttered to himself:
"And ‘superb internal strength’ certainly doesn’t appear out of nowhere."
"The key lies in… the ‘spirit’ of the martial artist."
When the word ‘spirit’ was mentioned, Qiao Mu’s eyes suddenly widened, shining with a bright light.
In the attic filled with books, the mountain of books was invisibly moved by a force, fluttering around Qiao Mu like a butterfly.
The ‘spirit’ of the martial artist, after reaching the 1st rank, had become powerful enough to influence physical objects, manipulate hidden weapons, stones, and even make throwing knives turn corners, or like a cultivator in the realm of immortals, use flying swords to strike at opponents’ heads.
When Qiao Mu’s ‘Eye Sword Technique’ reached the superb rank in spiritual refining, it exhibited even more mysterious changes, capable of turning the intangible into reality.
Wherever he looked, there were flashes of swords.
Invisible gaze, under the influence of "god", can turn into substantial sword light, quite miraculous.
So, what about inner strength?
After reaching the spiritual refinement superb rank, a martial artist’s "god" has become powerful enough to influence external things, capable of "turning the imaginary into reality."
So, can the intangible inner strength be turned into reality?
Qiao Mu reached out to take down the floating brush in the air and wrote three words on the unfolded white paper.
"Divine Transformation Technique"
This method seeks to blend inner strength with the divine.
"The transformation of inner strength, placed in today’s martial arts world, seems achievable only by very few top martial artists. Those who can reach this level are definitely few."
"If the way of transforming inner strength were to spread widely, then Founding Emperor Yan in the palace would certainly be aware, and his inner strength has obviously not broken through."
Thinking about this, Qiao Mu felt a bit helpless.
There are too few superb martial artists, so there isn’t a perfect way to achieve a superb rank.
And as for the "Divine Transformation Technique" in Qiao Mu’s hands…
With a big stroke of the pen after writing three words on the cover, he stared blankly at the white paper.
Although he guessed the direction, figuring out the specific method to combine "divine" with internal strength would still require some time to explore.
"Then let’s use fate to explore."
Qiao Mu closed his eyes and started practicing cross-legged.
About half an hour later, his internal strength burst uncontrollably from his body, blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, indicating internal injuries.
"The injuries aren’t severe, but the energy in the energy center is in chaos. A normal martial artist would need at least ten years to recover from such injuries, but for me, it’s not a big issue."
Qiao Mu reached out and poked his temple, blood gushing out.
The next moment, he fully revived in his dream, all wounds healed.
Unlike when deducing the "Human Path Sutra," the danger of qualitative change in internal strength is slightly lower, not immediately fatal, just enduring internal injuries for ten years.
But Dream-Qiao Mu can revive anytime, unafraid of being hurt, so he deduced the "Divine Transformation Technique," naturally choosing the most radical method, dying and coming back.
…………
"Internal strength is like soldiers, numerous but scattered."
"Gods are like generals."
"If God and internal strength combine, it would be like a good general leading soldiers, effortlessly commanding them, naturally different from internal strength that has not undergone a qualitative change."
"A martial artist’s ‘god’ can sense the surrounding environment, remotely gather external objects, and influence distances greater than ten meters."
"If God combines with internal strength, it should be able to break through the ten-meter decay rule of internal strength."
Although that’s the way things are.
But putting it into practice can be a bit difficult.
Qiao Mu has a lot of internal strength, ranking third on the Strength List, only after the Founding Emperor Yan and the Xue family’s main leader Xue Changhe.
So his "God" is like a newly appointed general taking command of a large army right away, naturally much more difficult, greater than the breakthrough of any other superb martial artist.
Of course.
If this can be achieved, then all the internal strength he has accumulated so far will be transformed into "superb internal strength".
Qiao Mu wrote in the "Divine Transformation Technique":
"Five hearts towards the sky, focus on the lower abdomen, merging energy with spirit…."
"His mind sank into his lower abdomen, controlling his inner strength to form a thread…"
Time flies by, after each death, the content of the "Divine Transformation Technique" continues to expand.
When the time reached the 350th year.
In Qiao Mu’s lower abdomen, the invisible inner strength that used to fill it suddenly collapsed and transformed into a more condensed "superb internal strength".
This new "superb internal strength" had already fused with Qiao Mu’s own divine appearance, so it was like a part of Qiao Mu’s body and could be controlled as easily as his own fingers.
Qiao Mu opened his eyes.
A strand of milky white superb internal strength seeped out from his fingertips, then solidified into the shape of a sword, a long knife, a spear, continuously changing forms.
"The ability to control inner strength has greatly strengthened."
"As for the range…" Qiao Mu pointed his finger, and the burst of energy flew out instantly for a hundred meters, piercing through a mountain peak beyond that distance, leaving a hole the size of a finger.
"Extremely condensed, greatly increasing range. Although there is a decrease in power when released in the air, it has been greatly reduced."
"And this amazing inner strength…"
Qiao Mu thought for a moment, and the robust figure of Wu Qiankun appeared in his mind.
Wu Qiankun leaped forward, his fists striking fiercely towards Qiao Mu’s chest.
However, as the fist struck, it stopped in front of the chest, blocked by a faint white energy that passed through, unable to advance an inch.
"Transforming from tangible and intangible inner strength into a certain tangible and materialized energy, which is fundamentally different from inner strength, it can be considered as a tangible and materialized entity, capable of blocking Wu Qiankun’s attack, making it impossible to even touch a hair."
Qiao Mu noticed that the superb level energy he cultivated through the "Divine Transformation Technique" seemed slightly different from the "superb inner strength" of Earth Sword Immortal and Martial Saint in his memory.
"Could it be that I have practiced incorrectly?" Qiao Mu thought, a slight smile appearing on his lips.
"Laughable."
"The one who is stronger, is the one who has trained right."
"Earth Sword Immortal and Martial Saint had a disagreement!"